Locating elongate magnetic-elements

ABSTRACT

A machine for locating reed relay contact elements in holes in an operable trough which opens to allow the reed elements to drop out of it comprises magnets mounted for rotation below the trough so that the reed elements rotate under the influence of the magnetic field from the magnets and thereby locate in the holes in the trough. A further rotating magnet structure is mounted over the magnets and above the trough to remove, on movement of the trough between it and the magnets, any reed elements that are not located in holes in the trough.

I Umted States Patent 1 1 [111 3,754,313 McCulloch Aug. 28, 1973 1LOCATING ELONGATE 3,061,919 11/1962 Tack 29/428 MAGNETIC ELEMENTS3,386,156 6/1968 Griesemer 29/203 P X [76] Inventor: Malcolm WilliamMcCulloch, 2

Pnmary Exammer-Thomas l-l. Eager Plump swanky England AnorneySamuelScrivener, Jr. et a]. [22] Filed: Dec. 6, 1971 [21] App]. No.: 205,231[57] ABSTRACT A machine for locating reed relay contact elements in [30]Foreign Application Priority Data holes in an operable trough whichopens to allow the Dec. 9, 1970 Great Britain 58,425/70 feed elements P0f it P magnets mounted for rotation below the trough so that the reed521 US. Cl 29/203 P, 29/211 M, 29/428 elements rotate under theinfluence of the magnetic 51 1 CL H051 13/04 B23q 7/10 323p 19/00 fieldfrom the magnets and thereby locate in the holes 58 Field of Search;29/203 P, 211 M, in the s A further rotating magnet 8lruemre is 29 42203 2 9 mounted over the magnets and above the trough to remove, onmovement of the trough between it and the References Cited magnets, anyreed elements that are not located in UNITED STATES PATENTS mes the2,334,004 11/1943 Herzog 29/211 M Claims, 3 Drawing Figures N 1 s I 7 J74 r1 1111!!! k i. 'riiiiiii a \T 5 127: I////4t\ V i\ l\\ I 3 F1 10 I lI, k w k 8 \\77 I 7 l 4 1 Patented Aug. 28, 1973 2 Sheets-Sheet lPatented Aug. 28, 1973 3,754,313

2 Sheets-Sheet 2 LOCATING ELONGATE MAGNETIC-ELEMENTS This inventionrelates to locating elongate magneticelements. The termmagnetic-elements as used herein includes any element fabricated frommaterial responsive to magnetism.

It is an object of the invention to locate elongate magnetic-elements inholes or recesses.

According to one aspect of the invention a method of locating elongatemagnetic elements in holes or recesses comprises subjecting the elementsto a rotating magnetic-field whereby said elements are constrained torotate and locate in said holes or recesses.

A trough may be provided having the holes or recesses extending throughits base and having its sides inclined upwardly from its base so as tofacilitate rotation of the elements therein.

Collector means may be provided to remove nonlocated elements from thetrough.

This aspect of the invention is particularly although not exclusivelysuited to use in a stage in the manufacture of certain types ofreed-relays.

One type of reed-relay has a soft-iron reed element having a flexiblecontact element of rectangular crosssection and a terminal portion ofcircular cross-section. During the manufacture of such elements it isnecessary for the contact end to be plated. lt is therefore arequirement prior to plating that the elements are orientated so thatthe contact ends all face in one direction. This invention thereforesets out to provide inter alia a method that can be used for soorientating the elements.

According to a further aspect of the invention an apparatus for locatingelongate magnetic-elements com prises a trough, element locating meansin the bottom of the trough and means for providing a rotating magneticfield in the region of the trough for rotating in use of the apparatuselements placed in the tro'ugh.'

A collector means may be provided for removing from the trough anymagnetic elements that are not located in the locating means of thetrough as a consequence of action of the rotating magnetic field. Thecollector means may be magnetic and may comprise a drum containing arotating magnet positioned above the trough.

The rotating magnetic field for orientation of the elements may begenerated by means of permanent magnets mounted closely adjacent thetrough and are preferably directly below the trough.

The element locating means of the trough may comprise holes or recessesextending through the bottom of the trough. The trough may be of a splitconfiguration arranged so that it opens along the bottom thereof so thatelements located in the holes or recesses can be released to fallthrough the bottom of the trough. The trough may be made of materialsuch as brass and may have its inside surfaces chrome-plated. The troughmay have V-shaped cross-section and its sides may be inclined at anangle of approximately 120.

The trough may be mounted on a conveyor and may be traversed along itslongitudinal axis through the rotating magnet field.

The rotational speed of the rotating magnetic field and the traversingspeed of the trough is preferably predetermined so that all of thelocating means of the trough are filled with the elongate elements andthe retational speed and position of the collector means is alsopreferably predetermined to ensure that it picks up all the elongateelements not located in the locating means, i.e., holes or recesses bythe action of the rotating magnetic field.

The invention will now be described by way of example with reference tothe accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 shows a sectional side elevation of a reed relay reed elementaligning and locating machine,

FIG. 1A is a view of part of FIG. 1 to an enlarged scale, showing alocated reed, and

FIG. 2 shows a cross-section on A-A of the machine of FIG. 1.

Briefly, the reed relay reed element aligning machine comprises achrome-plated brass trough l which has reed element locating holes 2along its longitudinal axis, supported above a rotating magnetic fieldgenerating structure 3.

The rotating magnetic field generating structure comprises two parallelrows of sintered ferrite permanent magnets 4 secured on opposite sidesof a rotatable shaft 5 these magnets being magnetised such that theirnorth/south axis is perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the shaft5. The two rows of magnets are arranged so that one outside surface is anorth pole and the opposite outside surface is a south pole thus if areed relay element of soft iron material is supported over the magnetsit will turn end over end when the magnets are rotated. It will bereadily appreciated that each row of magnets could be replaced by asingle bar of magnetic material having its poles aligned in the samemanner.

The shaft 5 is mounted at each end in supporting bearings 6 and isrotated by a belt drive 7 through a pulley 8 attached to the shaft. Themagnets are covered by a tube 9 which prevents magnetic material beingattached to them.

The trough 2 is carried on a conveyor 10, supported by conveyor supports11, (only two of which are shown) and the conveyor is driven so that thetrough will progressively pass from left to right (in FIG. 1) over themagnets 4 and through their magnetic field. The trough is generallyV-shaped and has its sides l2, l3 inclined at an inclusive angle ofapproximately and comprises a fixed trough side 12 and a movable troughside 13 assembled between two end plates 14. A row of closely spacedholes 2 (shown only in FIG. 1A for clarity) are positioned at the centreof the trough and formed half in each side. The reed relay elementscomprise a terminal part 17 of circular cross section and a contact part18 of a rectangular cross section which is of greater width than thediameter of the terminal part, the diameter of the holes 2 being such asto permit the tenninal of the relay element to enter therein. Tofacilitate the entry of the terminal into the hole, the hole is providedwith a tapered lead-in portion 16 thereby ensuring rapid location of therelay elements in the holes on rotation of the magnets. Contamination ofthe relay elements by pickup when rubbing against the surface of thetrough is'obviated due to the chrome plating on the sides of the trough.The speed of movement of the conveyor and the rotational speed of therotating magnet structure are both predetermined to ensure that all ofthe holes in the trough have reed elements located therein. A magneticcollector arrangement is provided to collect the reed relay elementsthat have not been located in the holes 2. The

collector is mounted so that the trough can pass underneath it, and islocated within the influence of the rotating magnet structure 3. Thecollector comprises a cylindrical drum 22 fastened to a support 21 and arotatable shaft 23 extends through an end wall 24 of the drum 22 and anarm 24 is attached to the shaft 23 inside the drum. The arm 24 carriestwo magnets 25 on one end and a balancing weight 26 on its other end.The shaft 23 is rotated by the belt drive 27 to the pulley 28.

The magnets are arranged with their polar axis perpendicular to the axisof rotation of the member, so that on passing over the trough theypickup any unlocated reed elements in the trough 1 and transfer themaround the outside of the drum and out of the chute 29 for collectionand re-supply to a trough.

The belts 7 and 27 may both be driven from the same drive mechanismindividually geared to give rotational speeds at an optimum for the sizeof the various elements to firstly ensure location of the reed elementsin the holes in the trough and secondly to ensure removal of all theunlocated or loose reed elements from the trough.

If desired the structure could be mounted so that the outlet chute 26 isover the trough 1 thereby permitting the excess number, i.e., the loosereed elements to be deposited into the trough or a subsequent trough onthe conveyor, a suitable gate mechanism being provided if required, thismay then form part of a delivery means for the reed elements to thetrough.

Subsequent to the alignment of the reed elements in the locating holesin the trough the trough may be removed from the conveyor and positionedover a clamping and holding device. When so positioned the movableportion of the trough is opened and the reed elements fall into theholding device and are held therein by a clamping means to enable asubsequent operation such as electro-plating to be carried out on thecontacts.

What we claim is:

l. A method of locating elongate magnetic elements in holes or recessescomprising subjecting the elements to a rotating magnetic field wherebysaid elements are constrained to rotate and locate in said holes orrecesses.

2. Apparatus for carrying out the method of claim 1, comprising atrough, element locating means in the bottom of the trough and means forproviding a rotating magnetic field in the region of the trough forrotating in use of the apparatus elements placed in the trough.

3. Apparatus as claimed in claim 2, wherein collector means are providedfor removing from the trough any magnetic elements that are not locatedin the locating means of the trough as a consequence of the rotatingmagnetic field.

4. Apparatus as claimed in claim 3, wherein the collector meanscomprises a drum positioned above the trough containing a rotatingmagnet arrangement.

5. Apparatus as claimed in claim 2 wherein the rotating magnetic fieldfor orientation of the elements is generated by means of permanentmagnets mounted closely adjacent and beneath the trough.

6. Apparatus as claimed in claim 2, wherein the said locating meanscomprises holes or recesses extending through the bottom of the trough.

7. Apparatus as claimed in claim 6, wherein the trough is of splitconfiguration and arranged so that it opens along the bottom thereofthereby to enable elements located in the holes or recesses to bereleased to fall through the bottom of the trough.

8. Apparatus as claimed in claim 7, wherein the trough is of V-shapecross section and the sides thereof are inclined at an angle ofapproximately 9. Apparatus as claimed in claim 2, wherein the trough ismounted on a conveyor and in use of the apparatus is traversed in thedirection of its longitudinal axis through the rotating magnetic field.

10. Apparatus for locating magnetic reeds or similar elongate magneticelements in holes or recesses comprising a trough of generally V-shapedcross section, element locating means having defined therein holes orrecesses for receiving said reeds or said elements said locating meansbeing provided in the root of the generally V-shaped trough, androtating magnetic field producing means positioned in the region of thetrough for providing a magnetic field rotatable for constraining thesaid reeds or elements to rotate and to be located in the said holes orrecesses.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION Patent No. 754,313Q Dated August 28, 1973 Malcolm William McCulloch Inventefls) It iscertified that error appears in the above-identified patent and thatsaid Letters Patent are hereby corrected as shown below:

The Assignee: Plessey Handel und Investments A.G,

Zug, Switzerland, a Swiss Company Signed and sealed this 29th day ofJanuary 1974.

(SEAL) Attest:

EDWARD M.FLETCHER,JR. Q RENE D. TEGTMEYER Attesting Officer ActingCommissioner of Patents RM PC1-1050 (1 1 USCOMM-DC scan-Pea W U S.GOVERNMENT PRHIYHQG OFFICE 19.9 O-366-334.

1. A method of locating elongate magnetic elements in holes or recesses comprising subjecting the elements to a rotating magnetic field whereby said elements are constrained to rotate and locate in said holes or recesses.
 2. Apparatus for carrying out the method of claim 1, comprising a trough, element locating means in the bottom of the trough and means for providing a rotating magnetic field in the region of the trough for rotating in use of the apparatus elements placed in the trough.
 3. Apparatus as claimed in claim 2, wherein collector means are provided for removing from the trough any magnetic elements that are not located in the locating means of the trough as a consequence of the rotating magnetic field.
 4. Apparatus as claimed in claim 3, wherein the collector means comprises a drum positioned above the trough containing a rotating magnet arrangement.
 5. Apparatus as claimed in claim 2 wherein the rotating magnetic field for orientation of the elements is generated by means of permanent magnets mounted closely adjacent and beneath the trough.
 6. Apparatus as claimed in claim 2, wherein the said locating means comprises holes or recesses extending through the bottom of the trough.
 7. Apparatus as claimed in claim 6, wherein the trough is of split configuration and arranged so that it opens along the bottom thereof thereby to enable elements located in the holes or recesses to be released to fall through the bottom of the trough.
 8. Apparatus as claimed in claim 7, wherein the trough is of V-shape cross section and the sides thereof are inclined at an angle of approximately 120*.
 9. Apparatus as claimed in claim 2, wherein the trough is mounted on a conveyor and in use of the apparatus is traversed in the direction of its longitudinal axis through the rotating magnetic field.
 10. Apparatus for locating magnetic reeds or similar elongate magnetic elements in holes or recesses comprising a trough of generally V-shaped cross section, element locating means having defined therein holes or recesses for receiving said reeds or said elements said locating means being provided in the root of the generally V-shaped trough, and rotating magnetic field producing means positioned in the region of the trough for providing a magnetic field rotatable for constraining the said reeds or elements to rotate and to be located in the said holes or recesses. 